Sea of Thieves Plans New Ship, 6 Major Content Updates

By Rory Young 23 May 2018

As promised, Rare has delivered a tentative roadmap detailing its content plans for Sea of Thieves. Today the studio released both a short article and a 14-minute “Inn-side Story” video going into what’s planned for the rest of 2018. The main takeaway for excited fans is that Rare plans to release six major content updates for Sea of Thieves in 2018. The first content update, titled The Hungering Deep, should arrive this May.

Following The Hungering Deep, events titled Cursed Sails and Forsaken Shores will fill out the summer months. Three more, as-yet-unnamed updates are then planned for the fall and winter months. In between these major updates, Rare will keep the game exciting with smaller Weekly Events and will continue to optimize and build upon the game.

Regarding what players can expect from a major content update like The Hungering Deep, Rare is keeping quiet. About all it’s willing to say is that each major update will introduce a new “AI Threat.” AI Threats will be enemies or encounters that can bring multiple crews together, and as they’re added to the game Rare will create events that draw players towards them in exciting ways. Of course, along with the AI Threat, Rare will also add more cosmetics, as well as other achievements and rewards.

The bulk of Rare’s “development roadmap,” if players want to call it that, is dedicated to the company’s philosophies and goals with regards to Sea of Thieves‘ future. This is important because Rare wants to make clear that it’s not going to do what most other online multiplayer games do and explain every detail of every patch days or weeks before it’s released. Rare wants every content update to Sea of Thieves to be filled with mystery and adventure.

In practice, that means that Sea of Thieves players will be able to log onto the game with the launch of the new event and discover everything that’s new through playing the game and participating in the community. That doesn’t mean everything will remain unannounced, as Rare will respond to player feedback as directly and as quickly as it can. For example, Rare knows that Sea of Thieves players want a new ship, so today they announced a new ship-type will be available in the Cursed Sails update this summer.

Finally, while Rare wants its forthcoming updates to remain mysterious it also wants Sea of Thieves players to be on the same page with regards to expectations. Rare wants its updates to introduce “new ways to play,” to add new goals and incentives within the world, and for further content to “engage and surprise” players by enriching the world. That may seem ambiguous, but hopefully, it gives Sea of Thieves players an idea of what lies in store in the game’s future.

May marks the first of Sea of Thieves six major content updates this year, so Pirate Legends and scallywags alike can mark their calendars now.